Seasonal Flooding Vulnerability, Cause, Impact and Coping Strategies in Southern Ethiopia Urban Areas. The Case of Sawla Town

Academic Paper from the year 2012 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Miscellaneous, grade: 4/4, Ethiopian Civil Service University, language: English, abstract: Sawla town is geographically inscribed by the chains of mountain range from south to west, and from west to north. And the main town is dissected by two crossing rivers namely, 'Womba and Cholea'. Due to increasing demographic dynamics of the town accompanied by rapid urbanization, demand of land for housing is higher than that of the available recognized land under the municipal authority; hence informal settlement patterns are becoming the usual trend especially towards ecologically sensitive boundaries of the town which is characterized by mountain hill sides, sloppy forest land and gully structures and the two river plains. As a result of deforestation and impermeable coverings by construction, the capacity of the natural land feature to infiltrate and percolate rain precipitation is decreasing from time to time with the subsequent increase in surface runoff conveyed to water bodies across drainages and urban storm ways. This trend of increase in surface runoff is featuring Sawla town by seasonal flooding calamity with a serious social, economic and environmental impact especially encountered by poor vulnerable communities. Therefore the purpose of this study is to assess seasonal flooding vulnerability, cause and impact in Sawla town by then suggesting feasible recommendation to mitigate the impact of seasonal flooding on the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of the town. A descriptive research type was employed to describe the cause and impacts of seasonal flooding on vulnerable communities of the town. Reliable data have been gathered from 163 (93% response rate) randomly selected respondents founded from four kebeles (Zirko, Botre, Kera and Kusti) of the town through questionnaire, interview and observation. Based on the data obtained from the field and secondary data sets, urbanization and informal settlement, deforestation, rainfall variability as climatic change and inadequacy of infrastructure are identified causes of seasonal flooding in the town. This seasonal flooding trend produced serious social, economic and environmental damages in Sawla town.